Sheet materials are commonly used in everyday life. Examples of sheet materials include wallpaper, billboards, posters and advertisements which are typically applied to vertical surfaces. Other examples include linoleum and other flooring, which are typically applied to horizontal surfaces. Sheet materials may be applied to other sheet materials, i.e., a lamina, to make laminate materials. The laminate materials are then put to the end use. The substrate may also be portable, as in the case of an open container or package.
The art teaches various techniques for applying sheet materials to substrates. For example, some attempts in the art use a knife-edge applicator in an attempt to have a clean break of the sheet material from the applicator to the substrate. Examples in the art include U.S. Pat. No. 5,759,270, iss. Jun. 2, 1998 to Lee; U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,002, iss. May 9, 2000 to Katami; U.S. Pat. No. 6,145,770, iss. Nov. 14, 2000 to Manusch et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,450,231 B1, iss. Sep. 17, 2002 to Ishikawa.
Other attempts in the art use a polygonal device to apply wallpaper to a flat surface or a semi-cylindrical curved tube as found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,682, iss. Dec. 8, 1987 to Barbe et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,184, iss. Feb. 21, 1989 to Shannon, respectively. Shannon further teaches a hand-held wallpaper applicator for applying wallpaper. This applicator has a tensioning mechanism for applying resilient pressure to the sheet material as it is scrolled onto the wall. U.S. Pat. No. 1,960,850, iss. May 29, 1934 to Lloyd teaches a wallpapering machine having a hinged handle. However, none of the aforementioned art addresses the problem of properly positioning the sheet material to be applied on the substrate. If the user wishes to ensure the sheet material is level, is accurately disposed in a comer, etc., special care must be taken with the initial positioning of the sheet material. This problem is exacerbated if the sheet material has pre-applied adhesive, as is often done for convenience.
One attempt to overcome the problems associated with positioning of the sheet material is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,432, iss. Dec. 26, 1995 to Vester, which discloses a wallpaper border applicator having a tack-applier assembly. The assembly is placed in position and retractable tacks inserted into the wall. However, Vester still does not approach the problem of initially positioning the sheet material to be applied and the tacks may damage the wall. If the sheet material is mispositioned at the outset, continuing the mispositioning is not helpful.
One attempt to overcome the problems of mispositioning and maintaining level is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,990 B1, iss. Mar. 27, 2001 to Glenn. Glenn provides an apparatus for applying a masking element having two vertical columns and a dispenser carried laterally therebetween. A level is provided on the dispenser. However, the Glenn apparatus is neither portable, nor suitable for use with smaller amounts of sheet material, e.g., posters, advertisements, etc. Further, Glenn does not provide for use with odd-shaped surfaces.
Yet another attempt in the art to provide dispensing of transfer adhesive is U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,613, iss. May 31, 1994 to Samuelson et al. Samuelson provides a dispenser which applies transfer adhesive to a substrate using an application member. However, Samuelson fails to provide a way to place the adhesive in a corner, or dispense adhesive of indeterminate lengths.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,808,586 B1 issued to Steinhardt discloses a convenient sheet material applicator, particularly a sheet material applicator which allows for conveniently properly positioning and repositioning, as necessary, the sheet material relative to the substrate. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0092420 A1, published in the name of Kinne, et al., on May 5, 2005, discloses a multi-burnish applicator and method of applying a sheet material to a substrate. The search for improved features for sheet material applicators, and improved methods for applying sheet materials to a substrate, however, has continued.